1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electroluminescent panels. In particular, the present invention is an internally illuminatable card and lighter in which an image on a surface of an electroluminescent panel is illuminated when the internally illuminatable card is inserted into a lighter.
2. Description of the Related Art
Collector's cards (also referred to as trading cards, the originals of which were baseball cards) are well known in the art. A collector's card typically includes a thin, generally rectangular, planar sheet of cardboard having one or more surfaces on which an image or text is affixed. For example, sports collector's cards typically have a width of about 2.5 inches and a length of about 3.5 inches. A picture of an athlete is typically affixed to one side of the sports collector's card and text describing the athlete is affixed to the other side of the card. Sports collector's cards are commercially available for a wide variety of sports including baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and soccer. Other types of collector's cards feature, for example, pictures and/or textual descriptions of scenes and characters from films and television shows.
Collector's cards are usually sold as a part of a series of collector's cards in which each card in the series has different images or text. Many collectors purchase several cards from a given series and often treat the cards as investments, the value of which the collectors hope will increase over time. However, the value of a collector's card is determined in part by the condition of the card. A card that is worn or damaged is less valuable than a card that is in "mint" condition (i.e., substantially the same condition as when the card was first manufactured). Also, to help verify the authenticity of a potentially valuable card, some collector's cards include some type of authenticating means (e.g., a holographic image).
Prior art collector's cards, however, have limitations. Conventional collector's cards are not internally illuminatable. In other words, conventional collector's cards do not include their own light source. Instead, conventional collector's cards reflect ambient light, and, as a result, are generally viewable only in well-lit areas. Also, the range of visual effects that can be created in a conventional card is limited to the effects that can be created with reflected ambient light.
The use of electroluminescent ("EL") panels as a source of light is well known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,999,936, issued to Calamia et al., describes a typical EL panel formed from a laminate structure. The EL panel structure includes a flexible, non-conductive substrate on which a thin conductive layer (e.g., copper or aluminum) is formed by a deposition process. A phosphor coating is applied to a surface of the thin conductive layer. A transparent conductive layer is then applied on top of the phosphor coating. The phosphor coating can be made to produce light by exciting the phosphor film with an oscillating electrical voltage (e.g., a 120 V, 400 Hz AC voltage) applied across the two conductive layers. The oscillating voltage used to drive the EL panel is typically produced by an inverter which provides an AC voltage from a DC power supply.
Prior art EL devices, however, are not suitable for use as collector's cards. Collectors expect collector's cards to have physical dimensions similar to the physical dimensions of conventional collector's cards. Therefore, conventional EL devices that include an inverter, a battery, and an EL panel in a single device are too bulky to be used as collector's cards. Moreover, simply removing the EL panel from a conventional EL device to form a collector's card would also not be commercially viable. Conventional EL devices that were designed assuming that the EL panel would be fixedly attached to the output terminals of the inverter before a voltage is developed across the inverter output terminals typically do not include any means for reducing arcing that would likely occur if the EL panel was connected to, or removed from, the inverter output terminals while a voltage existed across the inverter output terminals. Arcing is undesirable as it appears dangerous to consumers. Also, arcing eventually can damage the EL panel electrodes and the inverter output terminals, as well as cause carbon buildup on the card's terminals, which, if part of a card that is viewed as an investment, could decrease the value of the investment.
The present invention addresses these needs by providing an internally illuminatable collector's card fabricated with the physical dimensions of a conventional collector's card and a lighter to illuminate the card with reduced arcing.